The highly critical audit, a draft of which was provided to The Chronicle by the journal’s editor, also cites conflicts of interest among the reviewers, and states that “scholars who should have known better failed to recuse themselves from the review process.”

The study was published in the journal Social Science Research. A member of the journal’s editorial board, Southern Illinois University sociology professor Darren Sherkat, was assigned to examine the peer review process. His assessment was blunt.

“It’s bulls**t,” Sherkat told the Chronicle of Higher Education, adding that the study should never have been published.

The Chronicle says Sherkat pointed to one problem that should have disqualified the paper immediately: its definition of a “lesbian mother.” Women who had a relationship with another woman at any point after having a child, regardless of the length and whether they raised the child together, was considered to be a lesbian mother.

The University of Texas has launched its own investigation into the study as a matter of “standard operating procedure,” UT Media Director Gary Susswein told The Horn. “Any allegation of scientific misconduct against a faculty member automatically triggers an inquiry.”

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